Mark McGhee back in management

Mark McGhee has been appointed as the new manager of League Two side Bristol Rovers.

The former Celtic striker has been out of football since being sacked by Aberdeen in December 2010 but is highly regarded down south where he has managed at Reading, Leicester City, Wolves, Millwall and Brighton.

Paul Ince was amongst the candidates linked with the job but Rovers chairman Nick Higgs was delighted to welcome McGhee to the Memorial Stadium

“Mark has a great track record, and has managed at the highest level in this country and in Scotland, “ Higgs told the club website. “We are delighted to bring Mark to the club.

“We were very impressed with the quality of candidates for the position, but he was a cut above, he interviewed extremely well, and has a fantastic pedigree.

“His approach is very professional and he impressed us with his plans to take Rovers forward and get the club up where it belongs. We are all now looking forward to the rest of the season with Mark in charge.”

McGhee started his playing career with Bristol City in the seventies but had no hesitation about ‘jumping ship’.

He explained: “When I was offered the opportunity to come and meet with the board, I knew the city, I knew the club and I knew it had a bit more potential than the present position shows, so I was interested to hear what the board had to say.

“I was very impressed with their ambition for the club, and it was a very exciting proposition, that I am delighted to be here to take on.

“At the very worst we should be in the First Division and I think we should be challenging and have aspirations to get to the Championship – which is not an easy task.

“The longer term view is that, but it will be one step at a time. We should not start making wild and false promises, but what we will be looking for is indicators and improvement that the supporters can look at and see that we are working hard and that we are improving.

“I think they will be encouraged by that going into next season, and then there will be change in the summer, more improvement and more significant movement in the squad.

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